Indonesia's Indofood posts biggest 9-mth profit decline in decade on forex hit

Indofood Agri Resources

30/10/2015 06:05

* 9-mth profit 1.7 trillion rupiah vs 3.1 trillion a year 
ago 
    * Net profit margin falls to 3.5 pct from 6.6 pct 
    * Indofood has $1.2 bln in foreign currency debt 
    * Plantation business hit by weak crude palm oil prices 
 
    By Eveline Danubrata and Cindy Silviana 
    JAKARTA, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Indonesia's PT Indofood Sukses 
Makmur Tbk  INDF.JK , one of the world's biggest instant noodle 
makers, posted on Friday the steepest decline in nine-month 
profits in a decade as a weak rupiah jacked up financing costs 
for its foreign currency-denominated debt.    
    The company reported net profit of 1.68 trillion rupiah  
($122.9 million), down 45 percent from 3.07 trillion rupiah a 
year earlier. The decline was the biggest since 
January-September 2005, according to Thomson Reuters data. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12T6VG 
    The net profit margin of Indofood, which has businesses in 
food, beverage and plantations, dropped to 3.5 percent from 6.6 
percent.  
    "The macro economic condition in the last few months has 
posed quite a challenge for us," Indofood CEO Anthoni Salim said 
in a statement. The weak crude palm oil prices had also hit the 
company's net profit, he added. 
    The rupiah  IDR=  has fallen 9.2 percent so far this year, 
making it the second-worst performing Asian emerging market 
currency after Malaysia's ringgit.  
    Indofood had previously said it has around $1.2 billion of 
debt denominated in foreign currencies and it will hedge 20 
percent of its net exposure.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12G2LK 
    Indofood's Singapore-listed plantation unit, Indofood Agri 
Resources  IFAR.SI , posted on Thursday a 49 percent fall in 
third-quarter core profit excluding forex impact.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nWNBS01J7Q  
    ($1 = 13,665.00 rupiah) 
 
 (Reporting by Eveline Danubrata and Cindy Silviana in Jakarta; 
Additional reporting by Tripti Kalro in Bengaluru; Editing by 
Miral Fahmy) 
 ((eveline.danubrata@thomsonreuters.com; +62-21-29927603; 
Reuters Messaging: 
eveline.danubrata.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDOFOOD SUKSES RESULTS/